Drinking Mercury
by Lady Bellatrix Black Lestrange
Summary: Bellatrix stood frozen to the spot as her Master circled her like some sort of predator, and she, the prey was to terrified to move. She could feel the anger radiating from him even though he was out rightly calm...


**/ I haven't writen in a while and I've had itchy fingers so I turned this out. Enjoy and please review. **

**Still as always, dedicated to my Rodolphus and my Narcissa. **

_Drinking mercury_

_To the mystery of all that you should ever seek to find_

_Lovely girl you're the murder in my world_

_Dressing coffins for the souls I've left behind_

_In time_

_We must never be apart ~Smashing Pumkins~_

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Bellatrix stood frozen to the spot as her Master circled her like some sort of predator, and she, the prey was to terrified to move. She could feel the anger radiating from him even though he was out rightly calm. How could be be calm? She'd had Potter and his side kicks in her grip and they'd escaped. . . They'd hitched a ride with that slinking elf Dobby from this very room. She started to shake slightly, feeling eyes on her she cast a glance to the other side of the room, her sister was staring at her with wide eyes, the fear on Narcissa's face was all to clear. Bravely Bella offered her a small smile of reassurance she didn't feel. Was he going to kill her? As important as she was to her Lord, she wasn't so full of herself to not know she was as disposable as the rest of them.

"I am very disappointed in you, Bellatrix."

Lord Voldemort spoke softly in her ear and she jumped, her hands that were gripping the fabric of her skirt tightened their grip. A soft whimper left her lips and she hung her head, hiding her face with her hair.

"I am sorry Master, I-I. . . I tried. . . I. . ." She was cut off by the back of his hand connecting with her cheek.

She stumbled sideways from the force of the slap, right into her husbands arms who had caught her on instinct. Rodolphus held her up, his strong arms tightening on his wife protectively but he knew there wasn't anything he could do to protect her now. For the briefest of moments her hands on his forearms tightened as she cast a glace at him, her eyes held her pleading, but she knew she was on her own. Her knight in shining armor had to stand by and watch whatever punishment their King saw fit to give her.

"Come here, Bellatrix."

For a moment she thought Rodolphus wasn't going to let her go, her hand grazed over his and she felt his reluctance but he dropped his arms from around her waist and she stepped away from him to face her Master again.

Draco stood at his mothers side, her hand on his arm they were yet to receive their punishments, but there was no doubt Bella would suffer the most, she always did. The sound of the hammering rain was the only sound in the room for long moments, everyone was holding their breath. It was broken by the sound of a pain filled scream.

Bellatrix felt her legs give out from the force of the curse, she'd suffered at the hands of her Lord many times, but she'd never felt the curse so strong as this. Her senses told her body to get away from the pain, the burning in her very blood, but she couldn't. She writhed and her back arched into a beautiful bridge, her nails clawing at the floor and the screams and cries of pain filling the room. Eyes that were watching turned away from the scene, all but one, Rodolphus kept his gaze on his wife. Her pain was his pain, they were more connected more than just by marriage, they were bonded mind, body and soul.

His hands were clenched into fists at his sides, if anyone else dared to even look at his Bella they met a untimely end at his hands but this man they called their Master was torturing her in front of him and he was powerless. Her screams grew louder the longer it went on, he could hear their Master's voice over the sound of her screams faintly, telling her she deserved to be punished, and Rodolphus knew Bella would believe it.

The curse was lifted and Bellatrix took a lungful of air, her chest heaving as she panted and gasped for breath. Her body jerked and trembled as she lay on her back trying to recover enough to get to her feet, Voldemort didn't give her time to. The curse hit her full force in the chest, her screams were drowned out by the sound of thunder over head.

Four hours, four hours she screamed and four hours her Master tortured her, the tears in her eyes she'd been so brave in holding back slipped down her cheeks, she couldn't hold them back anymore. Her hair was matted with her own blood from a gash on the back of her head were she'd writhed against the hard wood floor. She lay panting and sobbing on her side, her arms wrapped around her head as if she was trying to stop her brain exploding. She was curled in a ball, her body wracked with pain, she didn't know where she was, who was in the room with her all she felt was the pain, the agony of her whole body feeling like fire, burning her from the inside out.

"My Lord, please. . . She can't take much more."

Bravely, or stupidly Rodolphus spoke. He couldn't watch his wife suffer any longer and do nothing. He stepped forwards and ignoring their Master knelt at Bellatrix's trembling side.

"Rodolphus, a very noble thing to do. But I will decide when her punishment it over and that, is not yet." Voldemort's voice was still calm and he waited to see if his loyal Death Eater was stupid enough to challenge him.

The Lestrange's had been loyal from the start and if Bellatrix had been anyone else, there was no doubt Voldemort would have killed her. Rodolphus hesitated, looking down at his wife's trembling form but he got up and backed away slowly, knowing it was futile to try to help her. So the torture continued.

Only when Voldemort decided Bellatrix was on the verge of breaking point did he lift the curse, after all, he needed the formidable Death Eater. She would be no good to him a whimpering mess like the Longbottoms.

He glided across the small gap that separated them, leaning over her and almost tenderly helping the struggling witch to her feet, his arm wrapped around her waist to keep her upright. She was trying to stop the strangled sobs coming from her chest, hating showing weakness in front of her beloved Master. Her knees were shaking and she knew if he let her go she'd fall back to the blood stained floor. She flinched as his cold lips brushed her ear and her panting breathes stilled as he whispered to her soft enough so only she could hear.

"My Bella, I should have left you in Azkaban. You are no good to me anymore, a broken witch. Fragile, weak, pathetic. A woman who needs her husbands protection, you are pathetic Bella."

She choked on a sob, the tears tracks on her cheeks being graced with fresh tears as the man she would die for broke her heart.

Voldemort let her go and she fell back to the floor, the sorrow in her tear filled eyes was enough to melt the hardest heart, he paid her no second glance as she clutched at his robes, her broken whimpers falling on deaf ears.

"M-my Lord. . . I live to serve you, I'd die for you my Lord. . ."

Lord Voldemort lifted her chin and held her gaze, his hand stroking her cheek gently.

"Then die, Bella."

In the end it was his words that broke the dark witch, she had lived through hell in Azkaban for almost fifteen years, living through the most brutal treatment. Not even her husbands love could mend the broken heart Lord Voldemort's words had caused.

But Bellatrix still fought for him, she still loved him with all her being, and then she died for him forefilling his last order to her. But in her last moments, she heard her Masters scream of anguish as she fell, Bellatrix Lestrange died never knowing that the man incapable of love, felt for her, the closest thing to love he could ever feel.


End file.
